As we work to bring even more value to our audience, we’ve made important changes for those who receive Ad Age with our compliments. As of November 15, 2016 we will no longer be offering full digital access to AdAge.com. However, we will continue to send you our industry-leading print issues focused on providing you with what you need to know to succeed.

If you’d like to continue your unlimited access to AdAge.com, we invite you to become a paid subscriber. Get the news, insights and tools that help you stay on top of what’s next.

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE STOCK MARKET

Enron. WorldCom. Maybe even Martha. Corporate malfeasance
appears to be all around us. The result: Some of the most negative
attitudes toward investment and the stock market that Americans
have held since the recession in the early 1990s.

The performance of the stock market hits Americans hard on two
levels. First, the market gives them a sense of how the nation is
faring. To a certain degree, the strength of the stock market has
become linked with a patriotic sense of the superiority of American
business and free market capitalism. Second, the stock market
affects people personally. For most, even if it's no longer seen as
the road to easy riches, the market is closely tied to retirement
plans. And as of April 2002, more than half of Americans (54
percent) told the Gallup Organization that they are â€œvery
worriedâ€? or â€œmoderately worriedâ€? about not having
enough money to retire.

According to the Index of Investor Optimism, created by UBS and
Gallup, investor optimism has reached a record low, falling 49
points in three months to its June rating of 72 and then tumbling
again to a dismal July rating of 46 â€” even lower than its
post-Sept. 11 slump of 50, and the lowest since the index's
creation in 1996. The 26-point drop in one month is the steepest
fall ever, tied with the decline from August to September 2001. The
index suggests that investors are more optimistic about the state
of the economy than about their personal finances.